VUSD trustee had role in coach's firing

VISTA - A Vista Unified School District school board member
played a role in the controversial firing last month of a winning
high school baseball coach, the North County Times has learned.

E-mail records show district Trustee Stephen Guffanti - himself
a polarizing figure in the politically charged district -
communicated with parents about the coach, Leo Fletes, two months
before Fletes was fired.

Guffanti said Wednesday that he got involved in the situation at
Rancho Buena Vista High School after hearing complaints about
Fletes from several parents.

"I always listen, whether it's a parent or a teacher or an
administrator," Guffanti said. "I think my first job as a board
member is to listen to the community."

Fletes was relieved of his coaching duties at the campus on Oct.
29 after the district hired a private investigator to look into the
baseball program, said Barbara Franklin, vice president of the
district's teachers union.

No results of the investigation have been made public. Fletes
continues to teach math and be a coach for the school's ninth-grade
football team.

The decision to remove Fletes from the baseball program has
divided parents at the south Vista campus. Some have said they plan
to speak out tonight at the district's school board meeting.

Fletes said two weeks ago that he was "shocked and disappointed"
by the decision and that he was given no explanation for his
dismissal.

On Wednesday, he declined to comment further until after
tonight's meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. at the district office,
1234 Arcadia Ave.

School district officials have also declined to comment on
Fletes, calling his situation a personnel matter.

Guffanti and Dan Piro, a parent active in district politics,
organized a meeting in July at Piro's house for parents to lodge
complaints against Fetes, Piro said Wednesday.

Guffanti, Piro and Superintendent Joyce Bales attended the
meeting along with 15 to 20 parents, Piro said. He said the parents
were concerned about a number of things in the baseball program,
including how money was handled and whether players were treated
fairly.

In an e-mail sent by Guffanti on July 23 to parents of baseball
team members, Guffanti urged them to step forward with any evidence
that could prove Fletes cost the district money or unfairly
profited from his coaching position.

In a second e-mail sent to parents Aug. 23, Guffanti mentions
the private investigator - David Sobel - and asks parents to
convince their teens to speak with Sobel about the coach.

Sobel said Wednesday that he couldn't comment on any
investigation and couldn't confirm whether or not the district had
hired him.

The school board has met in closed session to discuss Fletes'
coaching job, officials said. Ultimately, however, it was Rancho
Buena Vista High Principal Varda Levy's decision to fire him,
Franklin and Guffanti said.

Randy Weins, a former union president who represented Fletes in
the closed-session meetings, said Wednesday that he has never seen
an employee treated this way in his 31 years in the district.

He said neither he nor Fletes have been given a copy of the
investigator's report.

"To this day, we don't know what charges have been brought
forward," Weins said. "Nothing."